


Just For Us

by TempusNoKitsune



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-02 16:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2818607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempusNoKitsune/pseuds/TempusNoKitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not everyone celebrates Christmas, but that doesn't mean that it isn't something that can't be shared. It's not about whether they usually celebrate it or not. No, it's about letting them know that they matter. They're family, and maybe that hard to say, but Tony -despite the fact that he may not even realize it himself- is kinda happy about that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He moaned, and shifted onto his stomach, moving further into the warmth of his nice, big, fluffy bed. The sheets were enticing really. Silky pools of warm heaven. Why was it that he avoided sleeping so much again?

“Tony?”

_Hell no. Fuck that._ He burrowed further into the warmth of his bed, the fluffy down comforter settling up against his nose.

“Tony?”

_Go the fuck away_. He wormed his hands up, fisting them in the sheets, and pulling them snugly around his head. He was in the perfect spot. The peak of comfort. Not too hot, but pleasantly warm. Not suffocating, but close enough to feel secure. It was perfect.

He let out a short whimper as someone knocked at the door because, _hello, sleeping here,_ and I-am-a-fully-grown-adult-billionaire-genius-and-I’ll-sleep-as-long-as-I-want-thank- you-very-much. And yet, the knocking continues. Not so perfect.

He wants to yell out at the person to shut up and leave him alone, but he doesn’t want to move, or talk, or think; He just wants to sleep. Relax in the heaven that is a warm bed after, like, 78 hours of no sleep. Yes. Bed. Sleep. Beds are good.

    And the knocking continues. He’s going to have to kill someone. If the suit was nearby they’d be over and done with this now. Just one little blast and happy go knocky’d never disturb another innocent again. Of course, that’s assuming that he’d actually move to aim a repulsor blast at the door.

    “JARVIS?”

    “Yes master Rogers?”

    “Is Tony in his room?”

    “Yes master Rogers.”

    “Good...um, would you let me know when he wakes up? I have some waffle batter ready and I don’t want him burning the kitchen down again.”

    “Of course master Rogers.”

    _Oh, how thoughtful_. Setting aside the fact that it actually was kind of thoughtful, and that he fucking loves waffles- especially Steve waffles -that cooking thing kind of burned (that was only one time, why couldn’t they all just let it go?).

    “Then should I alert you that Master Stark is indeed awake?”

    _What? Awake? Who’s awake?_

    “Oh, alright. Let him know then.”

    “Master Stark.”

_Traitor._ He let out a raspy cough before pulling down the sheets slightly to peak up at the camera placed to the upper corner of his room. “Shut up.”

He pulled the covers right back up, and burrowed down deeper into the warm, fluffy, cave.

“I am to alert you that master Rogers has prepared waffle batter, and is currently preparing you breakfast.”

He responded with a tired groan, just burying his face into his pillow rather than making any move to actually get out of bed. Sleep came back to him fairly easily, dragging him back down into a comfortable darkness.

…

A large hand gripped his shoulder softly. Gentle shakes rocking his body. God he hated sleeping on ships. That’s why they had casinos and bars, to help you avoid feeling like nauseous shit. When did he get on a ship anyway?

“Tony? Tony wake up.”

He let out a string of incoherency, trying to shrug off the hand, and burrow infinitely deeper into the sheets. “Mmmhum nuh sick, ship num nuh ruck nuuu…”

The hand let out a breathy laugh. Hand’s can’t laugh though, or say Tony. So that must be a person.

“Tony.”

Person. Yes. Genius.

The blankets began to shift, and his cocoon of warmth was broken by the “lukewarm” air of peasants. He meet the air with a high pitched whine, and curled into himself. He feebly bat at the hands that were trying to pry him from the bed. Okay, maybe not pry. More like gently suggest with small rocking motions that it was 9:15, and he should get up because he has a meeting today.

It must be Pepper. Man...when did Pepper's hands get so big?

Man hands. Not Peper. A man? He has man hands, ‘cause he’s a man. Oh, oh! Steve. Yes.

“Tony, you have a meeting in an hour, you need to get up, and there’s some fresh coffee in the kitchen.”

He opened his right eye, blinking blearily into the light flooding in from the windows. “...Waffles? ...waffles ‘n...’n coffee?”

“Yes. Waffles and Coffee.”

He let out a low groan, and slowly maneuvered himself into a sitting position. His eyes were squeezed shut tightly as he bend forward slightly, arching up the top of his back and shoulders. His mouth opened up in a gaping yawn, and he his feet more or less gracefully to the floor, opening his eyes to an already empty room. Why the hell did everyone turn into Natasha when he got tired?

The walk to the kitchen was slow going, or at least felt like it. Tony was a busy person, and not only thought and talked at a mile a minute, but tended to walk that was as well. So, shuffling down the hallway, pyjama pants bunching around his ankles, he felt kind of like a slug. A really thirsty slug. Although, maybe he was a snail. He was rich enough to afford some big fancy shell.  A gold and red, gold titanium alloy shell. Iron Snail. God he needed coffee.

He turned wobbly around a corner, hand skimming the wall as if just being in contact with it would keep him upright. He was assaulted with the strong odor of nutmeg and cinnamon as his feet hit the cold tile of the kitchen floor. Weird, Steve’s waffles usually only had chocolate chips and blueberries in them… (Hey, don’t judge okay? Tony loves blueberries and chocolate, and Steve’s waffles are fucking heaven.)

“Good morning Sleeping Beauty.” Baby blues eyed him playfully from the breakfast bar, a big blue coffee mug pressed to the super soldiers bottom lip.

He let out a short _hm_ , and scooped up the white cup of fresh coffee from it’s place in the espresso machine. “So, I guess that would make you Prince Charming?” He shot a grin back over his shoulder, and picked up a big plate, piled high with three fluffy waffles.

Steve rolled his eyes, and popped a small piece of waffle into his mouth, turning his attention back to the newspaper in his hands. Newspaper, blech.

Tony wasted no time in sitting on the other side of the back, and digging right into the waffles. Mouthfuls washed down with coffee.

“The team ‘s meeting at the shield base at 1 today.”

Tony let out a hum of brief acknowledgement, far too preoccupied with the _fucking delicious waffles_ -which by this point had been doused in vanilla maple syrup, also a Steve contribution- to actually care.

“Don’t be late, okay? I know that it’s right after your meeting, so I asked Happy to come and pick you up so that you can’t be stalled. But, I really need you to be there okay?”

God. How were these things even possible? Like, every time he’s ever made waffles they were just sub par, but then Steve comes along and Bam! Jesus waffles.

“Tony?”

It’s like he never really knew what a waffle was supposed to taste like before this. His whole experience should just be labeled within the confines of, B.S.W and A.S.W, Before Steve’s Waffles and After Steve’s Waffles.

“Tony!”

His head snapped to the side, mouth full, and a bit of syrup clinging to the sides of his lips. “Wuh?”

Steve let out a sigh, his eye rolling up and to the side. “Just don’t be late to the SHIELD meeting today, okay?”

He swallowed. “Sure, why?”

“Just, don’t be late.”

“Okaaaay...What time is it?”

The blonde slid off of his bar stool, and placed his dishes in the dishwasher, tucking the newspaper up under his arm. “Happy’ll pick you up.”

“Oh, okay. Right, good.” He pushed the waffle around the plate, sopping up the syrup, then on one last big bite, shoved the waffle into his mouth just as Steve turned back around.

Steve shook his head fondly, a small smile on his face. One of those smiles that said you’re crazy, but I love you anyway, and walked over to Tony. He gently brushed up Tony’s hair, away from his forehead, and dropped a small kiss in its place.

“Have a good meeting Tony, I’ll see you at one.” **  
**


	2. Chapter 2

 

Meetings were not very entertaining. Since it wasn’t some kind of adjustment, or shareholder, meeting there wasn’t much input required on his part, which made for the dry, informational-type meeting. He blinked a few times, and tried to focus on the 100th dirt red slide projected on the wall. There was way too much information compiled on the tiny slide, and the man standing at the front of the room was stiff in his grey suit. The guy was being the facilitator to an information overload in the most monotone voice possible.

That was just bad advertising, and he knew a good bit about advertising (or at least Pepper did. I mean, she was like the embodiment of good PR and stuff that Tony apparently needed a lot of assistance with). The point of this guy being here was to convince him of something. To tell him about what needs to be done, and his company's solution, and the only thing that he was telling Tony was to take a nap. He’s watched documentaries with voice overs more lively than this.

When the side switched again he thought that he might just be in the clear for this one. The meeting was starting to run over, and they’d already been in here for a little more than two hours. Tony already knew what he was going to do. He liked the solution, it was well thought out, easily packable and approachable, and the company was pretty reliable. The only thing that he couldn’t deal with was this communications guy. However, the next slide turned out to just be more figures, and he was so done with this.

Thankfully that was about the time that his phone vibrated. And he never thought that he would be so thankful for a meeting at SHIELD in his life.

“Welp.” He straightened himself up in his seat, and clapped his hands together once. “I hate to cut the party short, but I’ve got another meeting to get to.” He scooped up the folders in front of him, and stood, smoothing out hardly noticeable wrinkles in his suit.

“But Mr.Stark, you haven’t even heard of the benefits, or auxiliary notions-”

“Mr.Basch. I assure you that I have heard enough. I’ll back you, and take on your project. I already have contact with your company, so I don’t need that information, but if you are going to send me this presentation I would like to ask you to provide me with the contact information of your Manager as well, then maybe we can get you some lessons on presentations, hm?” With that he turned on one shiny heel, and made his way out of the meeting room.

“Good meeting Tony?”

He reached up to loosen his tie as he slid into the back of his Jag. “Tiring. I swear the guy was just saying the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, in the most neutral voice possible. Like I didn’t know anything about the company already? I’ve worked with them before. Heck, my dad was friends with one of the founding members.”

“Never said it was easy.”

“Right, but saving New York from the Chautari was easier than listening to that guy.”

Tony caught Happy’s grimace in the mirror. “That bad?”

“I should have him arrested, tried for torture. Unlawful boringness.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little tiny chapter.
> 
> ~Castor


	3. Chapter 3

“Um, so. What exactly are we doing here Cap?”

Steve gave the team a small smile from the head of the table. “Well, I know that this is a little formal, but I wanted a way to talk to everyone on the team, together. Everyone is getting busy because it’s nearing the end of the year, and that’s push time for a lot of things, I understand that. But, it’s December 10th, and since we all live together I wanted to address the event of Christmas.”

There were small murmurs and sighs around the table, and the Captain’s smile dropped a little.

Bruce readjusted his glasses. “What exactly about Christmas Steve?”

“Well...I don’t know. I...I wasn’t really sure what everyone’s stance was on the holiday, and I wanted to know...to know if…”

“You want to celebrate Christmas.”

“Well, I don’t know.” Steve’s eyes dropped to his hands, which were now clasped together on the table in front of him.

Tony crossed his arms. “Eh. I don’t really care. I “celebrate” around the time of year anyway, reputations to uphold and all that. So, I guess I wouldn’t mind a “team Christmas”. Just no stupid sappy shit. I don’t do feelings.”

Clint raised his hand up in a slightly indifferent manner. “I’ll second that.”

Blue eyes lifted back up.

“I don’t mind either way. I don’t usually celebrate Christmas, so I can’t really weigh in, and I won’t object to your celebration of it.”

Natasha gave a curt nod. “And I’ll second Banner’s statement. I don’t think I’d mind a Christmas celebration, given there are no annoying bits, like the overplaying of carols.”

Thor let out a thundering laugh, because god of thunder and all that. “I too would not mind the celebrating of this joyous occasion! It seems quite merry, and we shall make jest as a team over a large midgardian feast! It seems a holiday almost quite fit for Asgard.”

Steve’s mouth twitched a little, but his baby blue eyes were lit up. They really hadn’t celebrated Christmas before, aside from Tony’s traditional -and highly alcoholic and showy- party, which had a guest list so long it didn’t really even matter who came anymore. So, maybe this would be good, or at least not too weird. I mean, they were already weird, but something about sharing a holiday that not all of them normally celebrated seemed strangely intimate, and Tony could only handle so much of that kind of intimacy.

He raised his eyebrows, and looked around the room. “So, we’re in agreement then? Team Christmas?”

“Team Christmas.”

 Steve’s eyes captured his own, and the blonde gave him a small smile. “Team Christmas.”

 

…

 

Christmas sucked.

Like, Dummy just spilled coffee all over his new blueprints, sucked. (A situation that was a travesty on more than one account.)

Christmas was like his dad, really promising, and then always disappointed by everything else because it thought it was so superior.

Anyway, Christmas. Christmas was just really busting his balls. Usually Christmas was pretty lax. Tony tended to take things slow around pretty much any major holiday, whether he celebrated it or not. And by take things slow, he means spending as much time as possible in his lab working on whatever the hell he wants while everyone else is too busy to bother him. And yet, stupid Pepper and her stupid sensibilities, and stupid, “ _You need to take care of your company, Tony_ ”, had stuck him with a multitude of meetings in company crunch time. And do you know what meetings meant? People. And you know what else? Paperwork. Two of Tony’s least favourite things.

So here he was, in one of the holiday seasons that he usually dished out his most new and improved pieces, sitting at a desk littered with paperwork, and a landline ringing non stop. He didn’t even know that he had a desk anymore, and don’t even get him started on the landline, he refused to even touch the thing (it was just blasphemous, and landlines were one of the many banes of his existence).

He let his head fall to the maple wood, making the table shake, and doing absolutely nothing for the wonderful headache he had going on. “I fucking hate Christmas.”

“And here I was coming to bring you a little bit of Christmas cheer.”

His head snapped up, and God he loved Steve. Steve who was dressed in a bright red sweater littered with snowflakes, and two big mugs of what he really hoped was hot chocolate.

He reached out with his arms, making grabbing motions with his hands. “Gimmie.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but soon there was a large mug of steaming hot chocolate cradled between Tony’s hands. The scent of rich, thick, dark chocolate wafting up to his nose.

“There better be alcohol in this.”

“It’s good to see you too Tony.”

“Mhm.” He took a large gulp of the scalding drink, and God this is what he should have been doing with his day, not sitting at a desk with pile after pile of work, and meeting requests.

“Rough day?”

“Let’s just say, it’s not even lunch and I already kind of want to throw myself out the window.”

“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Would you like to do my work for me?”

Steve gave his head a short shake, smiling into his mug.

“I’m completely serious, would you like to do my work for me?”

“No Tony.”

“Do you even work? Like, what do you do all day?”

“I-”

“Do you just art? Or do you just go out and work a shelters?”

“Well I-”

“Not that helping people is bad or anything but-”

“I do have a job Tony, you know that.”

“Wait, you’re still working?”

One golden eyebrow arched up, “Yes? This is crunch time for us too Tony.”

“But...it’s comics. You don’t really have to put out more, right? I mean, you guys already have all these special editions put together.”

“How long do you think it takes to make a comic? And, what time of year do you think the demands peak?”

“Fine, point. I get it. So, you do art though.”

“Yes Tony, I “art”. But you knew that already.”

“I’m stalling.”

The blonde shook his head, more of a fond shake than anything else. Like the, I-expected-nothing-less-of-you-but-I-still-need-to-be-disapproving shake. “How much more do you have to do?”

“Logically? Like, what actually needs to get done? Pretty much nothing. Got all of the big stuff out of the way early, like I usually do. But the filler stuff? That I’ve got months of.”

“I’m doubting your logic because of your work ethic, but if you really are done with all of the important things, how about we go to lunch?”

“Lunch date?”

Steve gave a small shrug, the corner of his mouth tilted up slightly in a really adorable lopsided smile. And how could he say no to that? Or, at least, that’s the excuse he would be giving Pepper later.

“We haven’t had one in a while, and it’s the holidays. I’d like to spend some time with just you.”

He grinned. “Sure honey. Let’s go out.”

“Regular place?”

“Hell yes. I haven’t had a burger in a week, and that’s a fucking crime.”

****  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not Christmas anymore, but I hope that you guys still enjoy the story.
> 
> ~Castor


	4. Chapter 4

So, Christmas in a house full of government proclaimed superheroes. He had expected it to be more of a disaster.

The mansion was usually in some state of perpetual craziness, but the kind of craziness that they had all gotten used to. You know, that kind of craziness that must have come with being part of a family. Something that none of them had really experienced before, except for maybe Steve or Clint.

Steve sometimes reminded them that yes, he had been alive in the 1930s and ‘40s, and that his family had consisted of a boy that, by description, sounded like a mix between Tony and Clint. Then there were Clint’s stories, which made Tony really question how Clint didn’t turn out to be much stranger than he really was…

Anyway, Christmas time really didn't turn out to be all that different from what their routine had been like before the season. The only difference was the decoration and the food. And if there was an excuse that he could make up to get Christmas cookies all year round, he would totally use it. (That and the fact that around Christmas time people didn’t badger him about his “unhealthy eating habits”).

The days passed by pretty quickly, and Tony found himself drowning in a sea of gifts for his friends. When he opened his closet things actually came tumbling out, something that he thought was reserved for cheesy cartoon specials. However, here he was, actually having to shuffle through all the stuff that he had bought, already wrapped and tagged. Not that that was a bad thing, no. Tony was usually swimming in money, so getting stuff for others wasn’t that big of a deal. The problem that he had was that when he saw something that he thought any of his friends might even remotely be interested in he would buy it, and have it wrapped. This meant that not only did he end up with more presents than he could handle, but he also had no clue what he had bought anymore.

So, he wasn’t bothered so much by the amount of gifts (he was a giver, what could he say?) but rather by the fact that he didn’t even know what he had gotten them. It shouldn’t bother him, but for some reason he was getting a little self conscious, which was completely and utterly stupid. He didn’t care what other people thought, right? Plus, he was rich, so any gift that they got was going to be amazing.

He yanked a bright blue button up off of it’s hangar, and slipped it on over his black wife beater, letting out a short huff as he used his back to shove the door closed. His head falling back against the wood surface after the knob locked back into place.

“You alright Tony?”

His head snapped up to meet amused blue eyes. “Steve!”

Golden blonde eyebrows lifted up beneath early morning messy bangs.

“You um, you, you didn’t-”

“You keep all of the presents in our closet. I’ve seen all of them.”

“Damn.”

“You do realize that they’re all wrapped, right Tony?”

“Well yeah, but- You know, it’s just a Christmas thing, right? You can’t just see your presents.”

“I’ll see them under the tree anyway, won’t I?”

“Shut up.”

Steve’s mouth tilted up further, and suddenly his lips were on Tony’s own. “Everyone will love everything that you’ve gotten them. I’m sure of it.”

Tony huffed out a laugh. How the fuck was Steve able to read him like that? Not even Pepper had confronted that issue until it had been staring her in the face. Literally staring at her, in the form of a giant stuffed rabbit. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, just like the giant stuffed bear that Steve had gotten for his first birthday present had seemed like a good idea. Maybe the plush of the shield he had it holding had been a little over the top.

“Yeah, never doubted it.”

“Right.”

His mouth set itself in an automatic smirk. “Why would I? Rich, remember?”

“Would you ever let me forget?”

He rocked forward on his feet, his lips ghosting over his boyfriends. “Not on your life.” He looped an arm as far around Steve’s waist as he could get, and pulled his body forward, claiming his mouth in a kiss.

He could feel the blondes lips tilt up against his own. This was it. This was Christmas. This was his life. And holy shit was this the luckiest he had ever been. Wow.

…

His hand shifted through Steve’s hair, getting tangled in the soft golden strands, and musing it in a way that made Steve relax back into him. He was sinking back into their warm leather loveseat, Steve reclining against his chest from between his legs, half on the floor and half on the loveseat. It didn’t look comfortable, but Steve seemed happy so he wasn’t going to question it. 

It felt kind of like a cliched Christmas day. They were all snuggled up in the penthouse living room. A fire was burning quietly in the fireplace, and the screenplay of Miracle on 34th Street  echoed through the large space. A huge tree was propped up in the corner of the room, filling the air with the scent of pine, and seemingly held up by the massive pile of presents underneath it (most of them from Tony). It was horribly movie-esque, but he really couldn’t bring himself to care.

He could harp on the Christmas’s from his past, the ones that in no way involved any of this “homey” feeling, but he was an adult. An adult who was able to forgive and forget, or at least ignore in favour of pulling his boyfriend close to him, and eating a fuckton of food. 

Ha. Take that past. I've got Steven Grant Fucking Rogers and all you have is booze and sex, and fuck that was going to get sad fast.

He let out a soft cough, and shifted a bit, causing Steve to turn his head back. He gave Tony a questioning look, and started to slide off of him, and Tony was waaayyy too comfortable to let that happen. He slid his hand down from Steve’s hair, and locked it with his other, fastening Steve in a hold stretching across his chest. Despite the fact that Tony was pretty much only as strong as like, one fifth of Steve, the super soldier seemed to get the idea, and stayed put.

“Guys?” Clint whisper yelled. “Presents?”

Noooo. Presents meant moving, and that meant Steve moving, and that meant Tony had to find another way to get warm and comfy. 

Everyone’s eyes shifted around before landing on Tony. He can never have nice things.

“Why are you looking at me? We’re all adults here, you don’t need my permission to open presents.”

The archer shrugged. “Well, just figured since you always claim, “your house, your rules”. That and the fact that you bought, you know, like 30,000 presents.”

He shrugged, “I’m just charitable, I’ve got so much to give.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Are you alright?”

Bruce let out a snort. “Looks like Steve’s gotten to you.”

“What? I was a perfectly charitable person before he got here! I’m a giver! I give!”

His body shook as Steve let out a rumbling laugh. “It is true, you know. His charity has nothing to do with me.”

“Riiight.”

“I’m hurt. You guys have so little faith in me! You’ll trust me with your lives, but not with-”

“Woah there drama queen,” Clint snickered. “Who said I trusted you with my life?”

“Shut it Legolas.”

Bruce stood up, shuffling over to the tree and beginning to distribute presents, first handing one to Natasha, which ended up bouncing off of Clint’s forehead. 

“Shut up and open your presents.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's kind of late, but I hope that you all still enjoy it.
> 
> ~Castor


	5. Chapter 5

Steve leaned over, his face coming in up close to Tony’s. They were still surrounded by wrapping paper from the morning, and Tony was drowning in an Iron man sweatshirt that Clint had gotten for him jokingly.

“Hi.”

His mouth tilted up in a grin and he leaned in even closer to Steve, pressing a short kiss to the others lips. “Hi.”

Steve sat back, “Good Christmas?”

Tony looked up, and shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know…”

The blond nudged him, a large elbow digging painfully into his side.

“Yeah. You?”

Steve mimicked him. “Oh I don’t know…” Blue eyes sparkled, and Steve’s smile made his own widen. God his boyfriend was perfect. How the hell did that happen?

“Steve?”

“Hm?”

“Do you ever wonder, you know...like, what it would be like if we never started dating?”

The super soldier gave him a funny look, before turning to look at the adjacent window, his eyes fixed in consideration. “I don’t know. I’ve thought about it before…” Steve turned back to him, a soft smile on his face. “But, then I thought that that doesn't really matter, and even if it did, I’d rather have it the way it is. That future isn’t mine, and I wouldn’t want it to be. I might not have never thought that this was the way that I’d be, but...before this, before you, I can’t believe just how much I was missing out, you know?”

“Um.”

Suddenly, Steve’s clear, deep, laugh filled the room. _What?_

“Um-”

The laughing grew to what was seemingly a fit of uncontrollable laughter, the blonde laughing so hard that his arms were wrapped tightly around his middle,and he was bowing forward with the force.

Tony was so confused. Like, he was most definitely a genius, but this interaction, this had no explanation.

“Tony...Tony…”

God he was really uncomfortable.

“Sorry...I- Ton I’m sorry.” Steves hands rubbed at his eyes. Tears clinging to his eyelashes and fingers. “I just. I don’t know what came over me.”

He shifted a bit, still not really sure what was going on, and pretty infinitely uncomfortable.

“I just- I just got really happy all of a sudden.”

_Is that what happened?_

“Sorry, wow.” The blonde let out one last breathy laugh, eyes shifting back over to Tony, who, by this point, looked almost identical to a deer in headlights. “I, sorry.” His hand shifted up in the cliched bashful grabbing the back of his neck movement. “That’s never happened before.”

Tony just looked around, unable to move, and struggling to actually find anything to say.

“Um. I… I just started to think about how we used to really dislike one another, and I thought it was funny.”

“How is that funny?”

“How much I hated the man that I love more than anything else in the universe.”

_Well, shit. Fuck him. He’s dead. That’s why this got weird. He knew it. There was no way that he could ever have a Christmas this good without being dead._

“You’re not dead Tony, I just- I guess I kind of lost it for a minute, sorry.” Steve stared hard at the floor by Tony’s feet, and whispered, “That was really weird.” He looked back up, blue locking with blue. “I meant everything I said though, no matter how weird I was being.”

Tony just let out a small noise.

“I didn’t put you into shock did I?”

“You think that’s a joke don’t you?”

“I think your dramatic, and that you can’t take a compliment.”

The billionaire let out an awkward cough, giving himself an excuse to shift his eyes away from Steve’s.

“Just let it be a good Christmas, okay Tony? Not everything has to have a reason, sometimes life is like that. Deserving it as nothing to do with it, and sometimes thinking too much can be bad for that brain of yours.” He gently tapped Tony’s forehead, then slid his hand to cup the engineers chin, tilting his head back towards the blonde. Tony struggled to keep his eyes off of Steve’s face, ultimately failing with Steve’s unwavering grip. “Really, you think too much Tony.”

But he was smiling. Smiling so softly that Tony felt like if he were to blink the moment would shatter. Okay, so maybe everything here was weird, and maybe that was because it was Christmas, or maybe because of too much sugar or food...but, Tony could allow it, for one day. To just have a day where not everything had to be explained. He could do that. Especially for Steve.

“I…”

“I love you.”

He couldn’t help the twitch of his lips then. “I...love you too.”

“I know.”

“Alright...I- For today.”

“What?”

“For today I’ll stop thinking-ish.”

He caught the brief twitch of a golden eyebrow.

“Unfaithful.” He teased. “Really. For today. I’ll stop thinking and enjoy it, for us.”

“Just for us?”

“Yup.”

“Okay.”

“And Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Please never do that again. It was fucking scary.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly weird, but hopefully sweet, ending.  
> Hope you had a great holiday, and that you enjoyed the story!
> 
> ~Castor

**Author's Note:**

> Sleepy Tony is the best.  
> Happy Christmas!  
> (this is posted on Fan Fic. as well)
> 
> ~Castor


End file.
